"Sometimes you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right."

So far, this Sunday morning has been full of lovely surprises...

... a handful of young men in a corner of the coffee shop playing wistful gypsy-esque violin. Perfect soundtrack for a very grey rainy morning.

... Caitlin's classmate, Kyle, catching a ride across town with us, and telling us all about his Buddhist dad. Sounded pretty familiar. Nice to know that her closest Hebrew school buddy is having such a similar upbringing.

... cleaning out the blog and discovering a post Ben dictated over a year ago, about Manju, our cook in Varanassi:

Dear Friends,

I hope you like this post about Manju. She speaks Hindi so I can't understand her very much but sometimes she speaks English, so I can understand her sort of. She teaches me Hindi, but I don't know why! Her saris are very pretty. She cooks us delicious food!

I'm itching for another trip - DC, New York, Brazil, Goa, Varanassi and Switzerland top the list right now. But the children informed me (on our last road trip) that they do not like to travel and would really rather just stay at home all of the time. (Irony anyone?) So between that very emphatic opinion and a husband who needs to single-minded-ly dissertate for the next month of so, we must stay put. (Counting the days til Seattle though!)

Until then, I'll console my self with pictures of warmer days and sunnier places, and encourage you to do the same. Also, brigadeiros will help! (I met some Brazilian exchange students yesterday who suggested a few excellent tweaks to the recipe linked above - more chocolate, less butter, and eating it all straight out of the pot instead of waiting for it to cool... o YEA.)

A deal with the Devil

I find myself at an interesting juncture lately, debating whether or not my family will have anything to do with Liberty University.

In case you don't have to know about such places (and living as I did in the best hippie bubble on the planet, I had no idea what Liberty U was until I moved here), a bit of background. Liberty University is located in Lynchburg, VA, a lovely 45-minute drive from here. Jerry Falwell founded Liberty U in 1971 and today it boasts a total enrollment approaching 60,000. It is a Baptist, Evangelical Christian institution and a bastion of right-wing conservative Christian culture. Students are expected to adhere to something called "The Liberty Way", a code of conduct that dictates a strict dress code and prohibits such sins as swearing, dancing and watching R-rated movies. (Interesting side-note: You cannot access The Liberty Way via the LU website unless you have a campus login and password. What's up with that? But since I am a helper, I found it for you HERE.) Not exactly the kind of place it would ever occur to me to go, even if Jerry Falwell wasn't involved.

And just in case you've been under a rock, refresh your memory about good ol' Jerry HERE. Or just take a look at this:

So. There's pretty much no way on earth I'm ever going to find common ground with anyone who feels like any of the above is a good idea. Is hate too strong a word to use here? Jerry Falwell must be one of the most evil people to have lived. His university is a sickening symbol of so many things that are wrong with our culture. I want no part of it.

But Ben wants to play hockey and Caitlin wants to rock climb. And you can't do either in Lexington.

But Liberty U has an ice rink. And a climbing wall. In a big beautiful facility which welcomes thepublic. The free skate hours are plentiful and a perfect match for our schedules. Same for the climbing. Their facilities are the closest and far and away the best in our area.

And I moved them here, to this dinky little town in the middle of nowhere Jesus-ville, USA. They talk about wanting to go "home" all the time and they mean Madison. They miss it so much - our family and friends, our community, but also all of the opportunities and resources we had there.

So after months of having to tell them that no, we can't do x, y or z here, I have finally discovered an opportunity for them to do two activities they've been yearning for.

But it means going into the belly of the beast. Giving my money to Jerry FREAKIN Falwell's hate machine. Willingly subjecting myself and my children to people who may actively hate us because we are Jewish, Democrat, ACLU members, etc etc etc. I think I'm just an abortion away from being the poster girl for everything "The Liberty Way" is against.

So what to do? There is no logistical or financial reason why skating and climbing at Liberty University can't work for us. Ideology is the only barrier. And is that right? My kids have had to give up so much since we've left Madison, and while they've gained oodles, is it fair to deprive them yet again just because Mommy hates right-wing Christian nut-jobs?

What to do? I think I know what Falwell would do. What would Jesus do? What would you do?

What I Can't Say

Dear Residents of Rockbridge County-

Is your school in danger of being closed? Are your kids' art/music/gym classes going to be cancelled next year? Class sizes ballooning? Is your school going to run without a principal? Is bus service going to be cut? That stinks. Your kids deserve so much better.

But is it really the school board or county supervisors' fault? Who controls education funding around here?

The state legislature.

Did you vote for a Republican? Do you know what their voting record on education funding is? No? Maybe you should check.

"Values" are all well and good, but maybe next time you should check to see if that Christian Republican you're voting for values your kid's education as much as you do.

If you fail to do your research and vote for people who cannot be relied upon to help you and your children, you get what you deserve.

You chose these men and you should've seen this coming. Don't blame the school board, the superintendent or the families who pull their kids from your local schools. We are not the ones who are 'robbing' you of much needed education dollars.

Look to Richmond. Look at voting records. Demand change.

And for God's sake, vote for a Democrat already.

Hippie Jewish Freak Love,

Maggie

In which I crumble

For 11 years 8 months and 23 days I have held the line, stood like (dare I say it?) a stone wall.

Today I cracked. I took one of my children to that unparalleled den of youthful iniquity, Chuck E Cheese.

Frankly, there is only so much one can do with a five year old in Roanoke, for two-plus hours, on a Sunday, during the snowiest, coldest winter this part of the world has seen in decades, if not centuries. And let me tell you, we've done it all. Museums? Closed. Library? Closed. Zoo? Small and cold. Bookstore? Corporate and packed. Fun, yummy coffee shops? Only one, and its gotten old. Parks, trails, creeks etc? Few and far between, not to mention covered in snow and mud.

Chuck E Cheese has not changed much at all since I last went, some nearly 30 years ago - still incredibly loud, jam-packed, and home to awful pizza. The stage show is still creepy (giant animatronic singing things? WHY!?) and the whole place is a fascinating window into American society.

One new feature is the preponderance of 'games' designed to require no skill and separate children from their tokens faster than ever before. Variations on the theme of dropping your token in a slot and hoping against hope that it'll fall in to some tiny hole and you'll win a zillion tickets. Its like the minors for future gambling addicts. The games seem to pay off just often enough that the kids see one person win and then want to try it themselves, only to sink too many tokens and still lose.

More disturbing then the fact of those games in and of themselves was the demographic of the people playing them. I saw only extremely obese children playing, and those kids only played that sort of game. Maybe it was just a weird confluence at the Roanoke Chuck E Cheese, but it made me wonder...

Sadly, there were far fewer Skee-Ball lanes than I remember, and about half of them didn't work. Ben and I did manage to find a good lane and really Skee some excellent Ball (what in the world to you call the act of playing Skee-Ball?!). I heard an interview with the newly crowned Skee-Ball World Champion on NPR recently so I was ready with some new techniques which really paid off - first 100,000+ round ever! (Tip: over 5'4"? CROUCH) (So that's another thing - when I was a kid Skee-Ball was just 10-50 pts - now its all multiples of 10,000. Why?)

Ben and I also dominated the basketball game. Homeboy has a wicked jumper.

Strangest of all was the pirate ship video game Ben played. The controller was a big ship's wheel, with buttons on the ends of the knobs, to shoot with, and a big button in the center to fire "Special Attacks". The special attacks popped up randomly and all but one were fairly normal - thye froze the enemy or made you invincible for a time or what ever. But one was called "Summon Bible" and it made a whole phalanx of blue-ish green glowing things materialize around you and then fly forward, shooting at your enemy. No other aspect of the game was remotely religious. And the "Summon Bible" attack didn't have any apparent religious content either... so. weird.

Caitlin was extremely disappointed to be studying Hebrew instead of Summoning Bible so we're going back again on Wednesday, after her Bat Mitzvah class. Just making up for lost time.

Plus, maybe I have a shot at the Skee-Ball championship next year.... just sayin.

snip!

It was time for a change...

it was also time for me to learn how to take pictures of myself in the mirror! (Note to self: Turn off the flash!)

And here's the inspiration...

short-haired Maggies unite!

Relatedly, if you're thinking of seeing Crazy Heart (the movie, above), I whole-heartedly encourage you to do so. Jeff Bridges is a dream and Maggie G is at the top of her game. Best, perhaps is that it takes a level look at alcoholism and recovery and the fall-out - not at all emotionally manipulative like so many other films, but unflinching and real. And the music. Hot damn, the music...

Wahoo!

Just heard I squeaked in to the Madison conference, so its time to plan the road trip and get ready for John Taylor Gatto! Debating whether we'll go through Cleveland again, or just get a cheap motel halfway... the dog complicates things a bit. Madison peeps - we'll be in town about a week so if you want to get together, get in touch!

Thanks to all who have chimed in about the vaccines. We're still reading and thinking, and very grateful to be able to add your ideas and experiences to the mix.

Our homeschool Girl Scout troop is just about ready to begin and I'm so excited. And Caitlin. Caitlin is excited. This is for her, of course. I'm just leading, again, just to, um, be helpful, right? Its not that I totally love Girl Scouts and wish I was 11 again and could be earning all those cool badges and going to camp and everything. (Ok, yes, Mom, I did quit when I was 11 and cried through my entire Girl Scout camp career... but don't we all deserve another chance?) Love. It. All.

Swim team is also up and running (swimming?) now. Caitlin had her first meet last weekend, which was a challenge. She's never been a fast swimmer, and a year and a half out of the pool didn't do anything to change that. She was disappointed. Really disappointed. But she seems to have tuned-in, smart, sensitive coaches who helped her adjust her attitude about her times and set some realistic goals. And lucky for me, a good friend from knitting has an older swimmer and she helped me get through the meet. [One of the many things I love about getting older is how much more I appreciate all of the older (even just a tiny bit older) women in my life - its like I'm suddenly finding all the big sisters I always wished I had.] Anyhow, swimming continues and I'm motivated to get my butt in the water now too, which can only be good.

Ben continues apace, and the spouse-person keeps insisting he'll come up with a finished dissertation sooner or later. Here's hoping our trip to WI will help speed that up.

Vaccines

(First, welcome to new reader Jill! Glad you found us and I do hope we'll be able to connect in Madison in Feb... still waiting to hear about the conference. I'll keep you posted!)

Good people of blog-land, today I turn to you for a wee bit o' help.

We just got back from the pediatrician's and (as always) the subject of vaccinations came up. When the kids were little this was easy as either, with Caitlin, I just did what the doc said because I was naive or, with Ben, we did all the vax because we knew he was going to India in the near future.

Now India is behind us and looming are puberty and life with H1N1. The doc recommended Guardasil for Caitlin and H1N1 for both...

And I'm in a bit or a swivet. No easy answers anymore. India is a given, but the vax for that are a moot point. We've never done any flu shots, and I've never thought about Guardasil at all.

Thoughts? Things to read? What has your family done? I'd love to hear from everyone who's willing to share. You can leave a comment if you like, or if email would be more your speed, maggiehaskettATgmailDOTcom (make the obvious changes).

Thanks in advance.

You know what I think?

I think I'd like to go back to India. I really miss it and have been thinking about our old hometowns and all our friends in them quite a lot lately. I don't want to live there again, mind you. Just have a good long extended visit. At least a month in Ladakh - ok, a whole summer - and then onto Varanasi for as long as I can stand it and then Delhi, Pune and Goa until I am good and done in all regards. Or perhaps I'd like a 3-month tour of all the places we didn't get to, but wanted to visit. Ghost of Sen. Fulbright, can you hear me? The magic word is f-u-n-d-i-n-g...

Also, I think I ought to find out who Thomas Keller is. I have a recipe for his brownies taped up to my cabinet and as I wander the interwebs I keep bumping into "Thomas Keller's Pot Pie" or "Thomas Keller's Spaghetti Sauce" or "Thomas Keller's Peanut Butter and Crackers". What's the deal? Who is this guy and why do we care how he makes the most basic of dishes? (HIS brownies are iffy. Not as good as mine, even without salad dressing.)

I'm psyched to be a Girl Scout leader again, and double psyched that I don't have to have anything to do with managing our cookie sale.

I have to learn how to better interact with people who tell me quite seriously that they love global warming, and that maybe its just the earth finally getting back up to the "right" temperature.

Tracking our every expenditure for the entire month is simultaneously excruciatingly painful, satisfying to my meticulous-saurus side, and oddly liberating. (See! Its all the damn food! Not the little treats I buy myself! If only we ate less! More treats!) (Oh lord. I need such help.)

I'm curious to see what "Lee-Jackson Day" is all about. You guessed it - a Lexington-only holiday to commemorate our to favorite biggots OOPS! I mean heroes. A friend pointed out that L-J Day falling just 2 days after MLKJr day meant the two sort of cancelled each other out - like holding a Nazi Pride Fest just after Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Rememberance Day). There are American flags out all over town and nothing of consequence closed on Monday... wonder what tomorrow holds?

Caitlin has started swimming again, on the local winter team at the community pool. She's pleased with the shape she's in, having a blast, and thrilled to have the chance to swim 4 nights a week. Rockin. Now Ben wants in too.

I've slipped from conscious competence to unconscious competence with a lot of my baking/cooking. Vegan dinner is now a given, and loaves of good ol' sandwich bread issue forth from my oven at the drop of a hat. It is totally standard for me to crank out, from scratch, a baked dessert, bread and a full vegan dinner most days of the week. Cool.

The exterior of the house however, has gone to pot. The kids are so excited about the warm weather that they are outside all the time, which is awesome. But their crap is everywhere, which isn't. They are also building a club house and trying to thaw out our upper pond with some rather creative tools.

Today there were 12 youths at my house for the better part of the day (2 under 2). Awesome.

I need to get better at not wishing my current homeschooling group was my old homeschooling group. The new group has some lovely people in it, including some dear friends. It is what it is. Got to stop going to that hardware store for my loaf of bread.

And I'm hoping and wishing and squeezing my thumbs so hard that I'll get one of those last few spots at the Madison homeschool conference next month. But even if I don't we're still going home for a week or so.

And last, I toyed with declaring the 2009-2010 academic year my Year of Selfish Knitting. But I have some plum-wonderful sisters-in-law and they need some baby alpaca love. Sure hope someone can give me a ride to knitting tomorrow night.

So. Now you know!

Salad Dressing Bownies

In order to distract you from the absence of Stupid Tie #5 (he wore a sweatshirt and hole-y jeans to work on Friday instead - gasp!), allow me to present a recipe...

And not just any recipe! These are 'Salad Dressing' Brownies* and they are quickly becoming the most popular creation in my dessert repertoire.

These are brownies made in 3 acts, so plan ahead if you want to be eating them at any particular time. (Although I can tell you from experience that there is not an hour of the day that is not a good one for eating these beauties.) Also, do not be afraid by the plurality of phases - none is particularly challenging and you can always go take a nap in between if you need to. (Though, why? It would only delay that first lovely bite...)

Lastly, before I begin I must cite my sources. The brownie layer is my own take on a recipe I got from a friend's mom years ago (Hi Georgene!) tied to a jar of Sand Art Brownie mix. I've adjusted it only the tiniest bit, and in this instance increased it to 9x13 proportions. The mint layer is adapted from Cooking Light, as posted on this blog. And then the ganache is from King Arthur but double tweaked by the blogger above and by me.

Enough. Let us begin.

Salad Dressing Brownies

Brownie Layer

Preheat oven to 350F

2 1/4 C all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 C cocoa (Hershey's is my stand-by)

1 1/3 C sugar

1 1/3 C packed brown sugar

1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 C bittersweet chocolate chips

(I absolutely believe in using the best chocolate possible and so I use Ghirardelli chocolate chips. Both sorts are consistently available in my small town Kroger and regularly on sale - stock up when the price is good - you will not be sorry.)

Mix all of the above in a big bowl. Then add...

2 tsp vanilla extract

6 eggs (settle down, you'll be fine)

1 C oil (really, you're fine)

Mix everything really well.

Grease a 9x13 pan. Scrape the batter into the pan. Push it into the corners and even it out with a spatula if need be.

Bake at 350 F for 40 minutes or until moist crumbs cling to a toothpick inserted in the center. (If the toothpick comes out wet, test again. You may have hit a chocolate chip.)

Let cool in the pan until roughly room temperature. (Or for as long as you can stand to wait.)

Mint Layer

In a medium bowl combine:

2 C powdered sugar

1/4 C melted butter

2 TBSP milk (If you're still feeling bad about all those eggs, use skim, but any kind will do.)

1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract**

Mix until smooth. Glop it out onto the brownies and then spread evenly. (Silently thank your lucky stars for a sister-in-law who gives off-set spatulas for birthday presents!)

This will give you a fairly thin (but still potent) layer of mint. If you'd like a thicker layer, double everything above except for the peppermint extract. Depending on your taste you could leave that the same or bump it up as much as you dare.

Chocolate Ganache Layer

2 C (1 bag) bittersweet chocolate chips (see above, and photo, below)

1 C heavy cream or whipping cream (seriously, settle down. these are brownies!)

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until very hot. It is hot enough when steam rises from the surface and you can see tiny bubbles forming around the edges - do NOT let it boil! Remove from heat and dump in all of the chocolate chips. At first it will look really sketchy.

But don't worry. Just keep stirring and in no time you will have a lovely creamy shiny pot of chocolate goodness.

Scrape the ganache out of the pan and onto the mint layer. Spread evenly, being careful not to cut into the mint. (Again, much love to spatula-giving S-I-L.)

Pop the whole thing into the fridge to give the ganache a chance to set up. When that's happened, dig in!

I like to cut these into little triangles. They're very rich and just a few bites (usually) satisfies. They keep nicely for a few days in an airtight container on the counter or in the fridge if you like your minty chocolate cold.

*So called in honor of one of my new knitting buddies and her treat-making ingenuity. Our knitting group had a little extra-curricular outing in the cold one night and she thoughtfully brought along hot chocolate. She poured me a cup and then asked if I wanted some 'salad dressing' in it, and brandished an old salad dressing bottle filled with a mysterious clear liquid. Always game for adventure I agreed and seconds later was enjoying hot cocoa spiked with peppermint schnapps. Hence, these deeply chocolate-y and intensely minty brownies are named Salad Dressing Brownies in tribute.

**I haven't tried it yet, but I imagine you could substitute peppermint schnapps for the peppermint extract. It would certainly be more in the spirit of the original salad dressing delight. I've been baking for kids and Chris's office buddies, but perhaps next time I'll make these true 21-and-over Salad Dressing Brownies. I'll update you on that when it happens. And if you try it before I do, please let me know how it goes!

Stupid Tie #4

As much fun as it must be to wear a new, stupid tie everyday, I think my husband enjoys taking the stupid picture even more.

Stupid tie [on the sly] #3

The Nag Championista thinks I don't remember how to blog any more. She also doesn't know I figured out the self timer on her camera.

Mu ha ha ha ha!

Stupid Tie #2 (and other afternoon hijinks)

Soooo, this is it, Stupid Tie #2.

(No comment on husband's facial expression!) The picture doesn't quite do it justice but there is some sort of quasi-optical illusion thing happening, which gives me a headache if I look at it for more than a split second. Ugh.

In other news, the children made quicksand while I made Chris's Lentils (see post below). (And kindly don't tell my husband that I let them eat big bowls of Cheez-Its right before they were supposed to be eating His Lentils.)

No Han Solos were harmed in the making of this blog.

And in still other news, the door of my pantry opens all the way out.

I love that. I've lived here nearly 5 months and I open the pantry many many times every day, and every time I get a little thrill.

Its the simple things, right?

Lentils, Chris-style

My husband has a bit of a reputation as a smart-guy (and smart-ass), and also as a good cook, and also as a bit of a vegan epicure. And all of that is true. And all of that sometimes makes for rather challenging dinner-making directions.

May I present Exhibit A, Chris's directions to me, for prepping lentils, which he will make into Indian deliciousness?

Lentils:
Mince 1 mediumish onion, or a bigger one, or whatever. Cook over v low heat for a long time in our 2nd to largest saucepan
Maybe 1-2 mins before the onion is looking really soft, crush in 2ish cloves of garlic
Add salt, pepper, and cumin, in amounts that look like they will end up tasting good. You can add the s&p after the water if you prefer.
Add 1.5c lentils. Stir around in the onion and whatall--I have no idea why I do this, you can prolly skip it and add the lentils after the water if you have to go pull the dog out of the garbage at this precise minute or something.
Add water to exceed total volume of stuff in pot by like 3x. Cover. Turn heat all the cfuck the way up. let berl. Once berlin', reduce heat to like 9 o'clock on the dial, aka lowish. Go check your email. Come back. Play legos. come back. Yell at the chillens. Come back. Answer the phone. Come back. Check from time to time to make sure not running dry. If dry, add more water.
If you start this around like 5:15, so the whole business is simmering by 5:30, the stars will align and your toenails will be fungus-free for six thursdays.

Off I go to start the quest for six Thursdays of fungus-free toenails!

Stupid Tie #1

Welcome to the newest SLNC feature - Stupid Tie Week! As some of you know, Mr. Nag Champion likes to wear ties to work. He's got his nose to the grindstone this week, cranking out a dissertation chapter before classes resume on the 11th, and to make sure he's in the right frame of mind, he's sporting full work regalia. Ben was in a bit of a snit this morning and suggested that Chris wear his "stupidest" tie to work, and thus Stupid Tie Week was born. For your viewing pleasure, we are proud to present a week of the stupidest ties in Chris's sizable collection.

Today, we give you the "Zulu of Scotland" tie.

Features include: made of black canvas, attractive crossed weapons design, and no back-flap thingy to keep the back tail in place.

Ole!

Gratuitous Mookie Pictures

December 31

Last post of December and no pictures - sigh.

We all went to dinner at Rick and Kay's - fabulous food and even better company, as always. Especially nice to see Julia and Frazier again after so long.

I don't make resolutions and I don't stay up til midnight and today was a rather difficult day, so I'm signing off for the last time in 2009.

I hope you all have a lovely last few hours of the old year and that your new year is full of blessings, challenges and adventures. Lots of love from us at Smells Like...

December 30

Chris and George went fishing out of Beaufort, NC today. The catch: mostly shark, with a handful of pelicans thrown in for good measure.

The highlights:

1.

2. "So I gave him [the pelican wrangler, above, Captain Marty] the Alexis deTocqueville lecture..."

3. "If he can catch a pelican, he can catch Dad."

December 29

Wishin' he was fishin'...

instead of driving to all ends of the earth in search of candied citron.

December 28

Issy seepin'...Bahn seepin'...

WAKE UP!!!

December 27

Beautiful in that lovely homespun outsider arty way - the Greensboro Light Balls.

Exceptionally hard to photograph, but still lovely.

Caitlin got up close and personal with a rare low-hung light ball.
And then there's Lucy - lovely and easy to photograph! Is there anything more adorable than a little girl dancing in a tutu?